Posts tagged darabont

I was going to write about the last episode but I lost track of time with the holidays and I moved and whatever else occupied my time in the last couple weeks. Either way I figured, why spoil the ending? If you want to see it you have full reviews from every other episode from me and if you have gone 5 eps deep then watching the finale will be well worth it. I did really enjoy this arch but of course like any new show there is always a testing ground. I still have not read the graphic novels but plan to, to get more in depth with the series for when it returns for its second season. Yes, it was picked up and why shouldn’t it? I really enjoyed what they did with this season and I am happy to call myself a fan.

From what I have read the second season will be twice as long as the first and, sorry to say, but we have no set date as to when it will air. I feel like we may have gotten a taste of what this show has to offer and if you ask me most of us will be out for flesh if it doesn’t have a date set in the near future. It is always terrible when you have a show you are falling for and have no idea when you will get more. There are a few snags that could cause the new season not to air until October of 2011 though. Frank Darabont, the executive producer/director, has let go of his entire writing staff and there are talks of not bringing on another one. Instead he is commissioning out freelancers to write the episodes. Also, AMC is the new hot place to be if you are an awesome tv series that has style and substance. They already have two hit shows coming back in 2011, Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and they will be airing a new series called, The Killing, sometime in the new year. That is quite a full plate for a network that used to show nothing but classic movies.

This show is looking like it will have quite an impact. The first episode was released at the perfect time, at the end of the spooky Halloween season, and I really believe that gave this show a leg up to get the buzz out there. I can only speculate what the next season will look like with all the freelancing and amazingness that will bring. From what I have reviewed and what I was excited about from this show I was totally blown away. From the beginning to the end you really see the relationships opening up and even the violence, which was something I knew AMC could handle, has been tasteful and gruesome at the same time. The entire cast has been a great choice so far.

There is a soap opera kind of feel to it with some of the characters, but I think that makes for good drama. As the show started, and since I am a proclaimed nerd, I had no problem believing there were crazy zombies running around out in the world. The characters react exactly how I would expect them to and there are some tough decisions shown that really make you step back and contemplate how you would handle it. Let’s be honest here, no real situation is ever so cut and dry.

So let’s get into the meat of it all. When the series starts you are kind of a time before when you get to meet Rick Grimes, a cop, and his partner, Shane. When Rick is put into a coma and wakes up mysteriously alone in the hospital the reality of a world alone sets into place. The story leads us to Rick searching and eventually finding his family, which include his son Carl and wife Lori. Lori was under the impression he was dead and so has sought comfort in Shane. As time goes on you realize that Shane is not happy to be left at the wayside when Rick returns, but this is all under Rick’s nose and he has no idea the turmoil both of them are going through now that he has returned.

Not only are you dealing with betrayal on some level but in other stories you are seeing the decisions of deciding on death as a viable option to living in this hell. What is there really to live for in a world like this? You see everyone around you die eventually and so why wouldn’t it be a good option? Well, that is unless you have someone to live for. These people are all they have and at this point if they don’t have each other there is no reason to go on. Not all of them have the strength to be optimistic like Rick and push on thinking they can save the world. This innate American idea that we are bigger and meant for more definitely resides in a guy like Rick, a leader.

Then you see the struggle that comes over Andrea when she does realize she is that person for someone, Dale. He had seen his entire family die and yet kept going. He let Andrea and her sister, Amy, into his heart and gave that place to them. Those relationships become stronger as time progresses. Bonds formed through great tragedy are stronger because you can really see someone for who they are. Sometimes though that isn’t the person you thought you would see. A really great example of that comes out in Carol’s husband, Ed. Now it is possible that he could have been this way before the world ended but her transformation is what really struck me.

Carol seems like a simple housewife who does what she is told. Ed is her overbearing abusive husband. They make a good couple until the sisters, who are definitely more outspoken and liberated, interfere to make Carol feel ok about laughing and having fun despite this dark time. You may think that she may not change because she runs to the side of him even after he beats her, but when he turns and has to be taken down she is the one to do it. The escape! Not only an escape and a victory but one she can feel good about and not snap to obtain. Slight victories like this are well deserved by these travelers and when they get them you must believe they will take them.

The many triumphs and disasters that these people go through are shown on their faces and their reactions and actions throughout every situation. You really feel what they are going through. An amazing moment is when the group is in the city together and they have to escape somehow. An option is to walk among them but how is that possible? Well, take a clue from Shaun of the Dead, act like them, and of course smell like them. The hacking of an already dead body is a head turner but touching at the same time. Rick memorializes the moment and makes them remember that life in this afterlife is all about survival.

Some amazing revelations have been made through all of this as well. We are finally clued into how long this has all been going on in the end of this season. They meet a scientist in the CDC named Dr. Jenner. Now, in my life previous to becoming obsessed with zombies I had a phobia. After seeing 28 Days Later and saw how fast they could be and the fact that maybe this could happen something came over me. I didn’t like that thought and eventually had to overexpose myself to the whole thing so that now, maybe it is still kind of a phobia, but at least I know what I can and am ready to beat the hell out of some stumbling brain eaters. In this series we learn a little more about what is happening physiologically. It is a spark in the brain that goes out. Where there were so many neurons and electrical impulses lighting up before there is only one area that seems to be relit and it is the basic most primal area. No function but survival is left.

The first season comes to DVD/BluRay March 8th, buy it, rent it, netflix it and help this series spread a widely and quickly as the disease they portray. Remember to also like them on their facebook page and follow them @WalkingDead_AMC on twitter.